In winning their second straight game, the Pioneers are now 2-8 on the season but, more importantly, a perfect 2-0 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play, having knocked off Mount St. Mary’s 14-5 last time out. The Seahawks, who were coming off a tough 12-11 loss to Manhattan on April 2, fall to 1-9 overall, 0-2 in league play.

The Pioneers raced out to a 6-1 lead after one quarter and extended the advantage to 13-2 at halftime. King scored three of his four goals in the opening stanza while Mawdsley sank two of his four tallies in the first half. With Wagner trailing 3-0, Leclaire notched his first goal of the afternoon on an an unassisted score at 8:56 to make it 3-1. Sacred Heart answered with a 5-0 run, bridging the first and second quarters, to open an 8-1 lead before Leclaire struck for his second goal, this one off a feed from senior midfielder Colin O'Rourke Worcester, MA/ St. John’s Shrewsbury), to make it 8-2.

Sacred Heart then embarked on a 5-0 spurt over the final 9:57 of the half in seizing the 13-2 halftime edge. After King opened the second-half scoring with goal at 13:34, sophomore midfielder Cory Santor (Glastonbury, CT/ Glastonbury) rocketed home an unassisted goal with 11:57 left in the third to make it a 14-3 game. Sacred Heart then notched the next two goals to widen the lead to 16-3 en route to the 21-8 victory.
Today’s game mark the second consecutive three-goal, one-assist effort for Leclaire who posted the same numbers in the loss to Manhattan earlier this week. For the season, the crafty lefthander has now scored three or more goals in a game on four occasions.

The 6-1, 180-pound Canadian had his first career hat trick at Rutgers (2/19) while adding an assist vs. the Scarlet Knights. In Wagner’s 18-12 victory over VMI (3/12), Leclaire rattled home a career-high four goals and one assist, which also gave him a career-high in points with five. His other hat tricks came in Wagner’s last two games, three-goal, one-assist outings vs. Manhattan (4/2) and today vs. Sacred Heart.

Santor added two goals today and now has four games to his credit where he has scored multiple goals. In the triumph over VMI, the sophomore registered career-highs in goals (5), assists (3) and points (8). Santor also had two-goal affairs vs.Lafayette (2/26), Saint Joseph’s (3/2) to go with today’s two-goal effort vs. Sacred Heart.

Scoring their first career goals today were sophomores Spencer Macquarrie (Doylestown, PA/ Central Bucks West) and Geoff Bradley (Brookfield, CT/ Canterbury School). Freshman goalie Anthony Peruso (Warwick, NY/ John S. Burke Catholic) saw the most significant playing time of his young career. In playing the entire second half, Peruso collected a career-high seven saves. The 7:19 that he played at Rutgers (2/19) was the most he had played in a game until today. Junior Nicholas Gibaldi (Rocky Point, NY/ Rocky Point) played the entire first hld and came up with 10 saves.

The Pioneers, who executed well in all phases of the game, held a commanding statistical edge. Sacred Heart outshot Wagner by a 53-23 margin, led in ground balls 39-18 and won a convincing 25-of-33 faceoffs. Sacred Heart was 2-of-3 on extra-man opportunities while the Seahawks were 1-of-2.

Marquis and Gannon paced the Pioneers in scoring with six points apiece with Gannon’s point total coming from six assists while Marquis had three goals and three assists. Alex Dodge (2 goals, 2 assists), King (four goals) and Mawdsley (four goals) finished with four points apiece for the victory.

John Flood started the game in goal for Sacred Heart and made three saves before giving way to Alec Dvoretsky who stopped four shots while playing the last 25:59 of the game.

The Seahawks are next in action on Saturday, April 13 when they host Bryant.

NOTES – Leclaire’s recent offensive production has allowed him to climb into the team lead in goals (19), assists (7-tied), and points (26). O’Rourke is next in scoring with 23 points (16 goals, 7 assists), followed by Santor and senior midfielder Nick DePhillips (Glen Ridge, NJ/ Glen Ridge / Ohio St.) who have recorded 21 (15 goals, 6 assists) and and 20 (14 goals, 6 assists) points, respectively.